After facing flak for shoddy work on flyover, BMC begins Rs 13-crore resurfacing work on stretch; peak-hour traffic to take a beating
If you are travelling from South Mumbai to the central suburbs via Lalbaug flyover, brace yourself for a heavy traffic situation. The BMC last night started resurfacing work on the 2.5-km flyover and has shut the north-bound arm of the stretch for motorists in the night. While the stretch will be opened for traffic during the day, the scraped surface of the upper layer of the flyover will hamper smooth traffic movement during peak hours. The work is expected to continue for the next five months. "We are going to scrape the layer segment-wise to avoid major traffic problems. Most of the resurfacing will be done in the night between 1 am and 5 am," said a staff present at the spot.
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The north-bound arm of the flyover was shut for motorists after resurfacing work began last night. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
Another official said that the civic body would be spending Rs 13 crore on resurfacing the flyover. The Lalbaug flyover, which opened for traffic in 2011, faced widespread criticism after several structural issues were observed on the stretch. While the flyover developed potholes immediately after the opening, a 20-mm wide crack appeared on the flyover in November last year, "Along with resurfacing, we have also planned to carry out structural repairs of the flyover. The structural repairs that will begin in March, will include replacement of the joint expansion and bearings," an official said. The repairs come close on the heels of a Bombay High Court order, which asked the civic body to submit a structural audit report of the bridge.
2.5 Length of flyover (in km)